Because... it's awesome.
So, I have this bathtub in my apartment, and there is only one outlet from it into the main drainage channels. This outlet has a stopper, which is screwed in, and which can be pulled up to create an opening for water to flow out, or pushed down to let water fill into the tub for a nice, warm soak.
The opening below the stopper isn't large, it's about an inch or so in diameter, and has a floor shaped like a plus, so that water flows through the four holes into the main drain. It started clogging whenever I showered some time back, although it only became really noticeable last week.
Now of course, any kind of clogging is completely unacceptable in a bathroom. I went out and bought a plunger, thinking there might be an air bubble or something stuck somewhere, although that scenario is more common for a toilet than a bathtub. Still, you never know.
It didn't help. It took me about a half hour of trying to realize that. I already suspected the real cause, but I guess I didn't want to acknowledge it until then. I also wasn't sure that the stopper could be unscrewed, but I didn't have anything to lose by trying, now did I? So I put away the plunger, and began to turn the stopper one way. Sure enough, it unscrewed, and there it was. My suspicions were justified.
Hair. Lots and lot of hair. I started to pull it out, and it just kept coming! Had I really lost so much hair in six months, just in the shower? Surely not all of it could be mine. It wasn't just stuck in the accessible portion of the outlet; when you have that much hair, and six months of soap and shampoo and cleaner flowing down the drain and getting trapped in that hair, it all gets slimy and sort of stuck together. So once I started pulling out the hair, it just kept coming.
It took me three sheets of paper towel to fully pull out all the hair that would come. I was pretty sure not all of it was mine, because out came a rather long piece of plastic, wrapped up in the hair, but which definitely didn't land up in the drain due to me. At any rate, I was able to clean out and unclog the thing, and sure enough water flowed freely after that.
But think about the situation, and how different it would have been, had I not been myself. Some people would have just called the building management or a plumber, since they couldn't be bothered to solve the problem for themselves. Some people would have made a half-hearted attempt, just for the sake of it, and then called for help. Some people would have been able to isolate the problem, maybe even unscrewing the stopper, but then refused to dirty their hands to pull out the hair. I had none of these problems.
That's partly due to my training as an engineer - solve the problem. It's also due to my upbringing as a child of scientists - understand what's happening. And finally, it has to do with my ego, my attitude and my self-reliance - do what it takes and do what you can.
Turns out, understanding what's happening helps you figure out a solution to the problem, and doing what it takes, or at least what you can, actually helps get stuff done. And, as it turns out, we are actually capable of doing a LOT. We just don't realize it.
